


This Soft Love, Softer Still

by that_is_shocking



Series: Some Fluff [5]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Arguments, Car Accidents, Cats, Domestic Boyfriends, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Hospitals, Humor, Major Character Injury, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 16:58:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16916757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_is_shocking/pseuds/that_is_shocking
Summary: the cat that Lucas and Jungwoo rescued is the new love of Jungwoo's life, but it's definitely not the love of Lucas's life, in fact, it's probably his mortal enemy





	This Soft Love, Softer Still

**Author's Note:**

> y'all remember the cat that Lucas and Jungwoo rescued? (if you don't then I suggest that you read Thank You, I love you, the 4th part in the Some Fluff series!)  
> Well, this is the cat, and a lot of angst that I really didn't think was going to happen. Just a warning, there is angst ahead, it's not like, major character death, or anything, but there's still angst. I tried to do my research for the stuff that is up ahead, but I wasn't very thorough. Anyways, enjoy!

Lucas sucked on his finger. Jungwoo, across the room, pouted. 

“That cat.” Lucas announced, standing up, “Is the devil.”

Jungwoo gasped, and put his hands over the cat’s ears. “Lucas! He’s just a baby!”

Lucas rolled his eyes. He strode to the bathroom and grabbed the bandaid box. The band aid crinkled, and Lucas watched the mirror as Jungwoo stood outside of the bathroom. 

“Xuxi, you know the cat doesn’t know better, right?” Jungwoo sounded small. 

Lucas sighed, and smoothed out the hello kitty bandaid on his thumb. 

Jungwoo stepped more into the bathroom, the little gray cat still wrapped up in his arms. “Right? You know that right?”

Lucas reluctantly nodded. “I know, it’s just, he doesn’t like me!” 

Jungwoo blinked at the whining in Lucas’s voice. Lucas took the pause as a cue for him to continue. 

“He doesn’t like me at all! He hisses at me whenever I try to go near you, and it makes me frustrated! I love you, and  _ he  _ obviously loves you, I just don’t get why he doesn’t even want to tolerate me!” 

Jungwoo rolled his eyes. “He’s not going to hate you forever.” 

Lucas could beg to differ. 

Two weeks later, he and Jungwoo were in the emergency room because that damn cat’s claws had managed to hook under Lucas’s fingernail, and tear through the delicate skin between Lucas’s fingers. 

In the resulting scramble to get away from each other, the cat’s claw had torn out and stayed deep under Lucas’s fingernail.

Jungwoo rubbed his back comfortingly while the doctor examined Lucas’s hand. 

Lucas didn’t want to look. He tried to make himself seem like some big brave manly man, but the hot pain under his fingernail, and the blood from the deep scratches had pushed him a little over the edge. 

“Lucas baby, did you hear that?” Jungwoo asked, hands squeezing Lucas’s shoulders. Lucas didn’t open his eyes. “They’re gonna have to take the claw out, but they’re gonna have to take some of the nail off too.”

Lucas shuddered, and the doctor said something to Jungwoo. Lucas wasn’t paying attention. 

“Baby, they’re gonna give you a local anesthetic. It’s gonna be okay.” 

Lucas sat stock still, as they stitched the tear between his fingers, and as they applied a local anesthetic to his thumb. He didn’t open his eyes as the doctors did their thing. Jungwoo talked low nonsense to him while Lucas tried to take deep breaths. 

When the doctors announced that he was all done, Lucas opened his eyes hesitantly. His left hand had a couple thicker bandages on it, and everything was a little fuzzy. 

Jungwoo bade goodbye to the doctors and the woman at the front desk, and led Lucas out to the car. 

“I’m sorry baby. We have to take Zennie to the vet still.” Jungwoo apologized as the cat, at it’s name, started yowling from it’s carrier in the back seat. 

Lucas sighed, and closed his eyes. He just wanted to sleep now.

 

~

 

That cat still did not like Lucas. Lucas still did not like that cat. It was a stalemate. Jungwoo had thought it was funny, until Lucas had had to go to the emergency room with a cat claw stuck under his thumbnail. 

Now, Lucas was glaring at the cat. Jungwoo had long since fallen asleep, he had caught a cold again from the office, and the cold medicine always made him tired. 

The Devil Himself, as Lucas called it (Jungwoo had named it Tzen, and called it Zennie most of the time, Lucas just called it Lucifer, or it) was on Lucas’s side of the bed, curled against the small of Jungwoo’s back, it’s green eyes open, and glaring at Lucas. 

“Come on dude, you can live on the other side of the bed!” Lucas hissed quietly at it. He gestured angrily with his hands. The cat did not care. 

“Cat!” He whisper screamed in frustration. “I want to sleep with my boyfriend! You want to sleep with my boyfriend! Can’t we do what was working earlier?!” 

The cat, normally slept curled against Jungwoo’s stomach, Jungwoo’s chest a careful barrier between Lucas and his enemy, but with the cat in Lucas’s spot, there was nothing to do. 

Lucas scooted closer to it. It let out a low growl. 

“Come on!” Lucas gritted his teeth and glared at it. 

Jungwoo shifted, and both the cat and him froze. 

Lucas sighed, and scrubbed a hand over his face. He tried to move closer again, but the cat’s ears went back, and it snarled at him. 

“Am I seriously going to have to sleep on the couch?” he asked the silent room. 

The cat hissed again, and Lucas trudged out. 

 

~

 

“Baby come cuddle!” Jungwoo called as Lucas shook the snow off of his hat. 

Lucas smiled, and shrugged his coat and shoes off. “Coming! I’ll be there soon!” 

The house was warm, and smelled like Jungwoo’s favorite tea.

He stepped into the living room, and stopped. The cat was sitting on the top of the couch, glaring at him like normal. It was protectively next to Jungwoo’s neck, and Lucas eyed it. 

“Come on!” Jungwoo whined, and opened his arms.

Lucas carefully sunk into the couch, and Jungwoo hummed happily. 

“How was your day?” Jungwoo asked, brushing hair off of Lucas’s forehead. 

“It was really good.” Lucas groaned, closing his eyes. “We finalized the second to last chapter of the game, and everyone was in a good mood.”

Jungwoo exclaimed happily, and planted a kiss onto the top of Lucas’s head. 

“That’s great baby!”

Lucas smiled, and shifted his head so that it was resting on Jungwoo’s collarbone. Apparently, it was too much for the cat, who screeched and swiped a paw across Lucas’s forehead. 

Lucas started, and all three of them fell off the couch in an angry pile. 

Jungwoo squeaked and watched as the cat raced off. 

Lucas moaned, and clutched his forehead. 

“Why!” Lucas shouted. “Why does that damn cat hate me so much!” 

Jungwoo sat up, and gently pried Lucas’s hands away from his head. There were two thin lines of red on his forehead.

“I- I’m sorry baby.” Jungwoo stuttered. Lucas could feel how confused he was.

“It’s just- god.” Lucas sighed. “That cat hates me so much, and nothing I do fixes it!” 

Lucas stood up, and stepped towards the bathroom, familiar steps as of recent. 

Their Hello Kitty bandaids had run out already, and the new ones had little vegetables on them. 

Two with carrots on them went onto his forehead. 

Jungwoo pulled him into a back hug. 

“I’m sorry Zennie hates you so much.” He whispered into Lucas’s back. 

“It’s not your fault.” Lucas reminded him, “It’s not your fault.” 

Jungwoo sighed. “I’m still sorry.” 

Lucas didn’t know what to tell him. 

 

~

 

Lucas wanted to cry. He didn’t cry often, he had only cried when he had been accepted to college, and after Jungwoo first told him that he loved him, but now, he was frustrated almost the point of tears. 

The cat was still in his spot. He guessed that was where the cat’s spot was now. 

A normal person would have just slept in the cat’s spot after that, but that cat had a big brain, and a lot of hatred. 

He had tried to go to the other side of the bed, but the cat had gotten up and jumped over Jungwoo to that spot, and had continued to jump back and forth every time that Lucas had tried to get into bed, the cat was in the spot he wanted. 

He desperately wanted to crawl into bed and cuddle Jungwoo until he fell asleep, but there was nothing he could do. The cat hissed, and growled whenever he tried. 

Lucas didn’t want to sleep on the couch again, but he would have to. 

He glared at the cat with watery eyes, and turned and stalked out of the room. 

He had tried so hard to make it work with this cat. Jungwoo  _ loved  _ it, and it made him happy. Not a lot had made Jungwoo smile like that before, only Lucas, and the sunrise after they had finally left their damn hometown behind. 

So Lucas had tried, but to no avail. The cat hated him.

Lucas settled onto the couch, his feet hanging just a little off the end. 

He heard Jungwoo snuffle a bit, and shift in the bedroom. The door was open and the house was silent enough so that Lucas could hear where he desperately longed to be, but not actually be there. 

He closed his eyes, and prepared himself for a restless night of sleep.

 

~

 

His coworkers could tell something was wrong. They were good guys, and they cared about Lucas like one would a little brother. 

They asked him what was wrong, and all he could do was sigh and tell them that he had gotten a cat recently. 

They of course, asked if it was the same cat that ripped up his thumb a few weeks ago. 

“Yeah, it is. My- uh, significant other loves it, so damn much.” Lucas huffed, “and it just _ hates  _ me.”

They nodded in sympathy and told him to take a nap on the break room couch. They told him that he didn’t looks so good, but Lucas couldn’t bring himself to take the nap they offered. He didn’t like couches so much. 

They sent him home two afternoons later, after he had nearly fallen asleep at his desk, they decided to send him home. 

On the train home, Lucas prepared himself for getting home and being alone with the demon cat. He must have looked so sad that an elderly woman came up to him and asked what was wrong. 

“I just don’t feel that great, I’m heading home, and I’m gonna sleep for the rest of the day.” He reassured her, and she smiled at him. 

He walked solemnly back to his house, stopping in the driveway to stare at the outside of it. 

He could see the place where he had fixed the siding that summer, and through the open living room window, he could see the big picture that another student had taken of them for a photography class. The student had gone on to win an award with the picture, so he had sent a large framed version of it to them, and Lucas had proudly hung it on the wall. 

He trudged up the walk, and unlocked the door. Inside, the cat was nowhere to be seen, and Lucas sighed. 

Their bedroom (well, now it was really Tzen’s and Jungwoo’s) was devoid of life, and Lucas gratefully put his laptop on the floor, and flopped down on Jungwoo’s side. 

Jungwoo’s pillow smelled like Jungwoo’s mango shampoo, and Lucas inhaled a deep breath before he fell asleep. 

 

~

 

Lucas wakes up to the opening of the front door, and something smelling terrible. 

“Tzennie buggie!” Jungwoo calls, unaware that Lucas is home. “Oh, where’s my baby?” 

Lucas hears the cat feet pound on the hardwood, and Jungwoo cooing at the cat. It still smells bad, but Lucas is too tired to care. Rolling over in the bed so his nose is pointed away from the smell, he hugs a pillow close to him. 

“What’s that smell? Zenzi? Huh? Lucas’s shoes- Lucas?” Jungwoo calls into the silent house. 

Lucas grunts in response, and he hears Jungwoo’s steps carry him into the bedroom.

“Oh, Xuxi? Why are you home? What’s that smell?” 

“Got sent home, don’t know.” He answers, cracking his eyes open. 

Jungwoo’s hair is a little ruffled from his hands running through it, and the gray cat and it’s green eyes look good in Jungwoo’s arms. 

“Are you not feeling good? Did you catch what I had?” Jungwoo asks, moving around the bed. “Because it was pretty nas- oh.” 

Lucas closes his eyes, expecting Jungwoo to release the cat and slide into bed with him, but it doesn’t happen. 

“Lucas darling, I think, um, I think Tzen went to the bathroom on your laptop.” 

Lucas was awake in an instant, sitting up like a rocket. Looking over the edge of the bed, he sees that Jungwoo is correct. 

“Oh my god.” He groans. “Can I have one day without that cat doing something to me?!” 

Jungwoo shifts on his feet, uncertainty. “I, um, I can clean it up if you want to sleep.” 

Lucas waved him off, feeling sick, and tired. “I can do it, go cuddle your cat.” He tried to keep his voice kind, if not a bit tired, but he knows his words come out sharper  than he wants them to. 

“Hey! It’s not my fault!” Jungwoo says, a little angry. 

Lucas swings his feet over the edge of the bed and scrubs a hand over his face. “I know babe, I got this. I’m gonna clean this up and then I’m gonna go back to sleep.”

Jungwoo nods, and uncertialy walks out of the bedroom. 

Lucas looks at his laptop, now with a lovely garnish of cat poop on the top of it. He sighed.  

 

~

 

Two days later, Lucas didn’t even try to fight the cat on whether or not he was going to sleep on the bed, with Jungwoo and the cat. It always ended up with him squished as far away from his boyfriend as physically possible, or just on the couch. 

It was exhausting, and Lucas could feel it behind his eyes now. Maybe he was being dramatic, but this cat was literally destroying him. The worst part was Jungwoo normally just told him that “he didn’t know any better” 

Lucas hated it now, so when their normal ritual of getting ready for bed ended, he grabbed his pillow and a throw blanket from the chest at the end of the bed. 

“Babe?” Jungwoo asked, looking confused. “What are you doing?” 

Lucas raised an eyebrow.  _ Had he really not noticed me sleeping on the couch for like the past three weeks? _

“I’m going to the couch.” He responded, stretching his arms above his head. 

“Wh- why?” Jungwoo sounded hurt and confused. Lucas turned around, and saw that he looked just like he sounded. 

“The cat doesn’t let me even touch you while we sleep, and sometimes I can’t even be on the bed without risk of the cat freaking out at me. I’m tired of it so I’m just gonna go to the couch now, instead of around midnight.” 

Jungwoo looked at him for a second and then burst out laughing. “Are you serious?!” 

Lucas frowned. It wasn’t funny, he hated it, and he missed being able to cuddle Jungwoo. Did Jungwoo just not understand?

“Babe, I’m serious. The cat really hates when I‘m around, and I’ll probably get more sleep this way.” 

Jungwoo stopped laughing at him. “You seriously are so afraid of this cat that you won’t sleep with me?” His tone turned accusatory. “Lucas! That’s ridiculous, don’t sleep on the couch!” 

“I’ll just have to move in the middle of the night! It’s easier this way and you can cuddle your cat!”

Jungwoo huffed and turned away from Lucas. “You’re being ridiculous.” 

“I’m really not. That cat doesn't like me at all.” Lucas repplied. “I’m gonna sleep on the couch tonight, but tomorrow night, I’ll video what the cat does. You’ll see.” 

Jungwoo angrily settled down to sleep, and Lucas turned out of the bedroom, sleep was calling him, even if it was poor couch sleep. 

“You’ll see.” He said one more time, and walked out. 

 

~

 

Like he had said, Lucas slept on the bed the next night, Jungwoo sleeping deeply, and Lucas with his phone out, getting a video of the cat curled against Jungwoo’s back, growling at him.

“See wooie? It won’t let me even get close to you!” Lucas whispered into the phone. 

“And when I get up to go to the other side of the bed so I can still cuddle you, watch.”

Lucas slid out of the bed, and turned the lowest lamp in the room on. 

The phone camera perfectly captured the cat jumping to the other side of Jungwoo, and then jumping back. 

Lucas made the cat jump back and forth for a while, before trying to get back into bed. 

“I just want to hold you close, and this cat won’t even let me get within an arm’s length of you.”

The cat hissed at that, and reached out a clawed paw menacingly. 

“See woo? It’s easier for me to sleep on the couch, because the cat won’t be hissing and trying to maul me all night.” 

Lucas turned the camera towards his face, and looked at the lens. 

“Anyways, I love you, I’m gonna show you this in the morning, I hope you sleep well.” 

He turned his phone off, and looked at the cat and his boyfriend for a second, before returning to the couch. 

 

Jungwoo watched the video Lucas had taken intently. On the little screen, the cat jumped over Jungwoo to block Lucas from getting close. 

“I’m sorry Xuxi.” Jungwoo told him, eyes looking up at Lucas, who was eating a waffle. “I didn’t know the cat did this.” 

Lucas nodded, and swallowed. “I know you didn’t know, and we both got a little angry. I’m sorry I was sharp with you.” 

Jungwoo stood up and hugged him. “I’m sorry too. We can try closing the bedroom door?” 

Lucas nodded, and popped a bite of waffle in Jungwoo’s mouth. 

Jungwoo giggled, and Lucas kissed his forehead. 

 

~

 

The cat yowled even louder. Lucas groaned and covered his head with a pillow. 

“Jungwoo suffocate me please. End it all.” 

Jungwoo patted Lucas’s arm and pulled the pillow off of his head. 

“I don’t think locking the cat out of our bedroom is going to work Xuxi. I’m sorry.” 

Lucas sighed and sat up. The little clock on his bedside table read 2:15. The cat had been doing this for nearly three hours. 

They had thought that maybe it would get bored, and that it would stop eventually, but it hadn’t. 

Lucas was ready to kill someone, or die himself. “I’m gonna go and let the damn thing in. At least it will be quiet then.”

Jungwoo nodded, and watched Lucas stand up and cross the room to the door. 

“Ready?” Lucas asked, a little bit of humor in his voice. 

Jungwoo chuckled airily, and nodded again. 

Lucas opened the door, and the cat raced in and up the bed. 

It stood, all puffed up, between Lucas and Jungwoo. 

Lucas tried to move closer, just to see if the cat would hiss, and hiss it did. 

Jungwoo wrapped his arms around it and dragged it to the other side of the bed. 

“I got him Xuxi, come cuddle.” Jungwoo whispered, and the cat wriggled in his arms. 

Lucas slid into bed, and shuffled closer to Jungwoo. All of a sudden, Jungwoo squeaked, and the cat rocketed out of Jungwoo’s arms and onto Lucas’s chest. 

Lucas screeched and in his hurry to get away from the cat and the claws that aimed for the most sensitive places on his chest and stomach, promptly fell off of the bed. 

The cat easily jumped back up onto the bed, and hissed in Lucas’s direction. 

Jungwoo cooed at it and Lucas groaned from the floor. 

“Xuxi, I, I don’t think we are a good family for this cat.” Jungwoo said softly, and Lucas sighed. 

“You might be right babe.” 

 

~

 

The next morning was rough, Lucas had crept off to the couch after the cat refused to let him sleep, and he was exhausted from the little sleep he had gotten. He could honestly just have stood still in the dim kitchen and fallen asleep on his feet. 

Jungwoo had cried a bit, they had decided to take the cat to the shelter that afternoon together, after Lucas got off from work. 

Lucas currently had Jungwoo in a tight hug, much to the cat’s chagrin. 

“Maybe you should stay home today.” Jungwoo murmured into Lucas’s chest. “You look really tired.” 

Lucas shook his head. “I’ve got to go today, but I’ll be home soon.”

Jungwoo sighed, and let him go. 

“It’s going to be okay baby.” Lucas told him, catching Jungwoo’s face in his hands. “The day will be over before you know it. And it’s all going to be okay.” 

Jungwoo let Lucas kiss him, and then he watched as Lucas shrugged his coat on, and stepped outside. 

 

Lucas pulled his coat closer to him, it was cold, and icy today, but it helped to wake him up. 

The walk to the bus stop that would take him to the train stop, that would then take him to work was a small walk. 

He waited at the light, rocking on the balls of his feet so that he could warm up a little. 

His headphones were playing a whispery song that must have been picked out by Jungwoo when the light turned, and the walk sign came up. 

The road was deserted, and he stepped off the curb. 

He didn’t see the sliding and out of control car until he was right in it’s path, and by then, it was too late for him to get out of the way. 

 

~

 

Lucas woke up disoriented, in a bright room. His head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton, and then put in the washing machine. He really couldn’t move. 

Someone asked him something that he couldn’t answer.  _ Jungwoo, where’s Jungwoo.  _

He tried to ask, because everything was fuzzy and hurt, but his mouth wouldn’t work. 

“rrs oo?” He managed to get around the tongue that wouldn’t work. 

The person told him to stay still and not talk. 

Lucas was confused, and a little frustrated. He wanted his body to cooperate, to stand up, shake off whatever was making his head fuzzy and go and find Jungwoo.

He didn’t get to think much about that though, because he fell back asleep very quickly. 

 

When he woke up the next time, he still felt awful, but at least his arms worked, and his tongue worked well enough. 

A very severe looking nurse told him that he’d been hit by a car and had needed to go to surgery for his broken leg, that now had three pins in it. 

“Can I call someone?” Lucas had asked her, and she had promptly informed him that only family could visit. 

Lucas had quickly asked if significant others could visit, and the nurse had told him that he could of course call his wife. 

“Um, what about my boyfriend?” Lucas had asked, and the nurse’s face had gone a little harsher. 

Calls only, she had told him, family only. 

So Lucas had asked the next nurse in to his room, if he could use a phone. 

The line rang four times, and then someone picked up. 

_ “Hello? Kim Jungwoo speaking.”  _

“Wooie.” Lucas had only managed before he had started to cry. The nurse who had let him borrow her cell phone looked a little uncomfortable. 

_ “Oh my god Wong Yukhei you’ve been gone for nearly twenty four hours!”  _ Jungwoo screeched, and Lucas sniffled.  _ “I was going to call the police!”  _

Lucas had sniffed a bit more, the confusion of waking up disoriented and how much hospitals actually scared him crashing down. 

_ “Yukhei? Xuxi? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”  _

Lucas still couldn’t speak, just basked in Jungwoo’s voice for now, and let tears collect on his eyelashes.

_ “Xuxi oh my god did you do something illegal? What’s wrong?!”  _ Jungwoo sounded increasingly panicked, and Lucas cleared his throat. 

“Wooie I’m in the hospital I-”

_ “OH MY GOD WONG YUKHEI!”  _ Lucas flinched and held the phone away from his ear.  _ “WHAT DID YOU DO WHAT HOSPITAL ARE YOU AT WHAT HAPPENED?!”  _

“They told me I got hit by a car, and broke my leg pretty bad, I had to go into surgery.” 

Jungwoo sounded like he was hyperventilating on the phone.  _ “Oh my god Xuxi. Oh my god, I was gonna call the police, oh my god, what Hospital are you at?!”  _

Lucas told him what hospital he was at, and Jungwoo calmed down a bit, enough to use the home phone to call a cab. 

_ “Xuxi are you okay now?”  _ Jungwoo asked, and Lucas nodded, and then remembered that Jungwoo couldn’t see him. 

“I’m okay I think, I just feel like crap. They said only family could see me.”

_ “Well, when I get there I guess I’ll just tell them that I’m your step brother.”  _ Jungwoo said, sounding assured.  _ “Don’t worry baby, I’ll be there soon.” _

 

~

 

Jungwoo was there in fifteen minutes, bursting into Lucas’s hospital room in his comfort pjs. Lucas’s old hoodie, and his long pyjama pants with the donuts on them, a puffy coat and hat thrown on haphazardly. His feet had on one of Jungwoo’s uggs, and one of Lucas’s tennis shoes. 

The nurse who had let Lucas borrow her phone raised an eyebrow at Jungwoo. 

Jungwoo paid her no mind, instead flying to Lucas who was pale on the hospital bed. 

“Hi.” Jungwoo said to him, breathless. 

“Hi.” Lucas said, already holding Jungwoo’s hand in a death grip. 

Jungwoo petted Lucas’s limp hair. “How are you feeling?” 

“It’s gotten a bit worse. My chest feels weird.” Lucas told him, closing his eyes, and leaning into Jungwoo’s touch. 

“Oh baby, my poor baby, I’m so sorry.” Jungwoo pouted, rubbing a thumb over Lucas’s cheekbone. “It’s gonna be okay now.” 

Lucas swallowed and nodded, and a tall man in a white coat stepped into the room. 

Jungwoo greeted him, but Lucas didn’t hear it, he was so tired feeling, and now he felt shivery and cold. Jungwoo’s touch though, was warm and it was amazing. 

“Lucas, the doctor wants to know how you’re feeling.” Jungwoo told him, tapping his cheek softly. 

Lucas opened his eyes, and the doctor flipped a page in on his clipboard. 

“Lucas, did you say your chest was feeling weird?” Jungwoo prompted, and the doctor looked up. 

Lucas nodded, and opened his mouth to speak, but a beeping monitor interrupted him. 

All of a sudden, he felt dizzy, and there were more nurses in the room. 

“Woo-” Lucas tried to say, but Jungwoo was being ushered out of the room. 

Someone said something that sounded like allergic, and Lucas was losing consciousness. 

He still felt cold. 

 

~

 

Waking up this time was different. There were more beeping monitors, and he could tell there were more tubes in him. He didn’t like it one bit. 

A nurse smiled at him when he turned his head to try to find Jungwoo. 

She poked his stomach, and told him that he’d had a bad allergic reaction to the painkillers he was on. 

He wanted to ask where Jungwoo was, because he wasn’t on the other side of the bed, and there were no chairs to even indicate that Jungwoo was just off somewhere and would come back. 

The nurse still smiled at him as she called him Mr. Wong, and told him that he was in the ICU, and that his step brother wasn’t allowed in yet. 

Lucas frowned, and relaxed a bit. What she said made sense, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t like it. 

He fell asleep again soon after, and when he woke up Jungwoo was finally back. 

He looked tired, and a little like he’d been crying. 

“Hi there little brother.” He whispered, and Lucas refrained from running a hand over Jungwoo’s jawline. 

Leaning closer, Jungwoo pressed his forehead into Lucas’s palm. 

Lucas could see tears falling, and he threaded his fingers into Jungwoo’s hair. 

“Lucas, I’m-” Jungwoo said after a moment, and then his breath hitched. “Don’t  _ do  _ that again.” 

“I’m sorry.” Lucas’s voice was raspy and unused. “ I’m sorry Jungwoo.” 

Jungwoo giggled wetly into the bedsheets. “Just don’t ever do that again. We’re buying a car, you’re never walking to the bus stop again.” 

Lucas nodded, and let Jungwoo cry. 

 

Later that day, he was put back into a normal hospital room, out of the ICU, and then three days after that, he was going from the wheelchair, and into a cab. 

The cabbie was young looking, and waited very patiently as Jungwoo turned Lucas so that his leg was laid out on the seat, and the wheelchair that he had rented from the hospital was safely packed into the backseat, before sliding into the car, and putting Lucas’s leg on his lap. 

He rattled off their address, and away the cab pulled from the curb. Lucas was glad to be heading home. 

 

~

 

Home was the same as Lucas remembered it. Cat toys on the floor, and dishes on the drying rack. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t take the cat to the shelter while you were gone, it’s just-” 

Lucas nodded, and let Jungwoo help him into the bedroom. 

The cat was curled on the bed, in Lucas’s spot. 

It took one look at Lucas and bolted. Lucas snorted. 

Jungwoo settled him into bed, and stuck pillows under Lucas’s leg. 

“I’m gonna let you sleep, and when you wake up, I’m gonna check on the abrasions you got and give you some painkillers.” Jungwoo told him, pulling the covers up over Lucas. 

Lucas nodded, already closing his eyes. 

Jungwoo kissed his forehead, and turned the lights off. 

Lucas fell asleep easily, this bed smelled like Jungwoo, and home. 

 

~

 

Three weeks passed, Jungwoo slept on the couch for the first night, because he was afraid he would bump Lucas and hurt his leg, but Lucas whined enough that Jungwoo broke quickly, and slept in the bed. 

The bulky cast was annoying, but Lucas could deal with it when Jungwoo took some vacation time off, and spent the days using Lucas’s lap as a pillow, and watching old movies. 

The cat was indifferent, and didn’t seem to know how close it had come to it being taken to the shelter, and how close it had come to being a single man’s cat. 

Lucas didn’t care as much anymore. 

He had started to get nightmares, at about a week and a half from being released, and he woke up a lot in the middle of the night, his leg throbbing, his head pounding, and his chest tight. 

He swore he could see the car coming at him, but instead of him in it’s path, it was Jungwoo, or feeling that same cold, dizzying weightlessness when he had had the allergic reaction. 

It was terrible, and when he woke up, the cat was normally awake as well, curled by Jungwoo’s feet, it’s green eyes watching him unblinkingly. 

At least it didn’t try to bully him out of bed, like it used to. That was a plus. 

Jungwoo stayed cuddled next to Lucas, always touching a part of him. He hadn’t said anything yet, but seeing Lucas when the allergic reaction had hit, had terrified him. Lucas understood, and let Jungwoo sleep with a hand on his chest, over his heart. 

The cat continued to just watch. 

 

~

 

Two months later, Lucas had a thinner, more manageable cast, and crutches. 

He didn’t have the wheelchair, or one of the pins, but he still had nightmares. 

Jungwoo knew about them now, having felt Lucas’s heart race after one, but Lucas didn’t like to wake him up, or worry him. 

A particularly bad nightmare had Lucas hopping to the bathroom, to get a glass of water, and to pant into the mirror, so he didn’t wake Jungwoo. 

Looking at his reflection, he could see a small scar on his cheek, and a few blemishes from acne. His hair had grown out of it’s honey gold dye job, and was dark brown now. 

He stared into his reflection’s eyes, willing his heart rate to go down. 

The bathroom door creaked open slightly, he hadn’t closed it fully, but Jungwoo’s head didn’t peek in. 

There was something warm twining around his ankles, and Lucas looked down to see green eyes staring back up at him. 

“Hi.” He whispered to the cat, who was, surprisingly, purring as it weaved in and out of his ankles, in a figure eight. 

It paused, and looked up, green eyes meeting his again. It blinked slowly. 

Lucas pinched his arm subtly.  _ Was this a dream? _

The cat meowed and jumped up onto the bathroom counter. 

“Hi.” He told it again, and it settled into the sink, treating it like a cat bed. 

He gazed at it incredulously, and then decided that he really needed to go back to sleep. 

He hobbled back to the bed, and slid back under the covers. 

The cat jumped up onto the bed as well, like it normally did at night time, but instead of curling decidedly on Jungwoo’s side, it curled up in the divot between Jungwoo’s leg and Lucas’s leg. 

It sounded like a tiny motorboat, and Lucas studied it for a while. 

_ It could be a clone, it could have been brainwashed, I could be crazy, I could- _

Jungwoo rolled over, and snuffled softly facing Lucas now. 

Lucas decided that he should just go back to sleep. 

 

~

 

Lucas was pretty much vibrating, as the nurse removed his cast. It had been  _ so  _ long since he had actually seen his left leg. 

Jungwoo smiled and squeezed his hand. 

The male nurse smiled at the pair and asked what their plans were now that Lucas could move around.    
“Well, we have to pick up our kitty from the vet, but after that, I think we’re gonna go rock climbing, or learn how to breakdance, or ice skate.” Jungwoo joked, and the nurse laughed. 

Lucas looked at his leg, a large zigzag scar, and the smaller more patchy scars from the accident itself. 

The nurse gave them a boot for his foot, and then told Lucas to come back in five weeks for the doctor to check on how it was healing. 

Lucas thanked him, and listened as the nurse told him how he could stop with the crutches soon. 

Jungwoo held onto Lucas’s backpack strap as they made their way out of the building. The vet clinic was only a short walk away, and they made it there quickly.

“Hi!” Jungwoo chirped to the front desk worker. The young man smiled and greeted him back. 

“We’re here for Tzen Kim?” Lucas told him, leaning on the desk. The man’s face darkened a little. Lucas laughed. 

“Did he give you trouble?” Jungwoo asked anxiously. The desk worker informed them that the cat had only given a couple of the vets scratches, but that everything was fine. 

Jungwoo shifted, and Lucas laughed again. “He’s a demon isn’t he.” 

The desk worker nodded vigorously. 

Lucas laughed again, and a young woman brought the cat carrier out from the back. The demon cat in question was yowling, but as soon as it saw Lucas and Jungwoo, it changed to plantitive meows. 

“Oh Zennie!” Jungwoo cooed. “Did they stick you with so many needles?” 

“Poor baby.” Lucas said in a baby voice, sticking his fingers into the carrier to let the cat rub against. 

“Let’s get you home!” Jungwoo told the carrier, and the sad cat. 

“Yes, let’s go.” Lucas agreed, and they signed a couple papers, and then headed out the doors. 

A cab pulled up quickly at Jungwoo’s beckoning, and they slid into the backseat. 

Jungwoo told the cabbie their address, and the trio set off towards home.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so that was it! Did you like it? I kinda liked writing it, a whole connected story in my shorter chunks that I do for this series! I hoped you liked it. I named the cat Tzen, for NCTzen, if that wasn't as obvious as I thought it was. If you liked this and want to see more, please leave me a comment or kudos! If you want to see fluff in this same universe, but with a different ship, then tell me so, but if you want more Luwoo, feel free to speak up! I updated my Seventeen Text fic, if y'all want to check that out, it's called "The Fuck (Or Text Fic)"   
> Leave me a comment, or a kudos, or just anticipate the next part in this series! Love y'all!!!!!!!!!!!  
> ~Alex


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